The Head family settled Virginia in the early 1700s, moved later that century to Alabama, and still live there. Nelson graduated from Washington & Lee in Lexington and moved his branch back to Virginia in the 1980s. In 1995, Dixie Bones opened in Woodbridge where it maintains a reputation as the region’s best BBQ house. It has been mentioned in numerous restaurant publications and named one of the top 100 restaurants in the DC metropolitan area by Washingtonian Magazine.  In 2009 the Washington Business Journal declared Dixie Bones to be the 23rd largest caterer in the entire metro area.

Generations of Southerners perfected the food Nelson serves. You might say it was bred into his bones – his Dixie Bones. There are four people who influenced him the most: His mother, Jane Head, who knows good food and how to make it, Mary Smith who for many years cooked her recipes for his family, Julia Child’s books and tapes that gave structure to his cooking, and Frank Stitts who has elevated Southern ingredients and food to the world stage.

Some say Nelson’s barbeque is Alabama style. His cooking skills were learned in the Heart of Dixie but he practices it in the Commonwealth. So which is it – Alabama or Virginia barbeque? Does it really matter so long as it is good?  Not really.  Like he says, “It’s all about the meat!”